News digest 16 November 2011
From anger over public pensions to
clearing the streets of protesters the digest opens with action on
both sides of the Atlantic and over in the eurozone the contagion
continues to spread. A snip of good news sees inflation dip, but
unemployment advances again, May remains under pressure as does the
government over fuel duty. Letwin broke the law, News International
says sorry while the MoD has flogged its Harriers, easyJet will
allow passengers to book seats, but is there a curse of Cameron as
he puts another diplomatic foot in it…
Unite public pension ballot result
due – The Indie (p14-15) has a comment
piece on industrial action and the recession and today’s the day
and all eyes on Unite as Britain’s biggest union is set to reveal
the result of its ballot over action for public sector pensions
this afternoon; 30 November looks like being busy. Kevin Maguire in
the Mirror (p8) says the
strikes will not only challenge prime minister David Cameron and
the Con-Dem coalition, but will also be a test of Labour leader Ed
Miliband and his argument of the major divide between the 99 per
cent and one per cent elite.
Wall Street bash vs. democracy in
action – In the Morning Star (p8) Unite
general secretary Len McCluskey talks of a sea of protest forming
over the Occupy movement. Last night New York officers made more
than 70 arrests as they cleared the Occupy Wall Street camp and
over in England the City of London announced it plans to recommence
legal action to remove the protesters at St Paul’s. Unite campaigns
officer Amy Jackson joined a solidarity sleepover on the edge of
the City to learn more about the campaign to speak up for the 99
per cent. Read all about her night on
Unite for our Society blog (Mirror p28, Mail p27, Times p16-17, Indie p3, Guardian p3, Telegraph p16, FT p1/8, Morning Star p1/6).
Fears spread across eurozone
– Bond markets across the eurozone saw mass sell offs yesterday as
fears spread to the AAA rated states of Austria, Finland, the
Netherlands and more disconcertingly France. As German chancellor
Angela Merkel challenged Cameron over his opposition to a Robin
Hood tax the call was for more action from Germany. Depending on
which paper you read this either means everyone will have to speak
German (Mail p1) or that
Germany must bite the bullet and allow the European Central Bank to
become a lender of last resort, will fears over inflation outweigh
the danger of an end to the European project? (Sun p6, Times p1/8-9, Indie p19, Guardian p1/14-15, Telegraph b1, FT p1/5-6, Morning Star p6)
UK inflation eases –
Escalating price wars on the high street offer some solace for Bank
of England governor Mervyn King as RPI dipped to 5.4 per cent and
CPI fell to 5.0 per cent in September, rates are expected to
continue to fall but still remain above target (Mirror p6, Sun p6, Express p10, Times p45, Indie p50, Guardian p28, Telegraph b3, FT p3, Morning Star p2).
Unemployment rises
again – New data out this morning has worse
figures for UK unemployment, with the youth unemployment rate
breaking the one million barrier. Unite’s Len McCluskey said the
Con-Dem coalition was consigning a lost generation to the dole
queue: ”The government needs to adopt a twin-track
policy – having more targeted measures to help young people into
work, while at the same time, reversing the hardline austerity
measures that have sucked the life out of the British
economy.” Unemployment is now at 17 year high of 2.42
million (Mirror p4, Times p21, Telegraph p2, FT p4, Unite
release).
“I’m no rogue operator” – Was
the message from Brodie Clark, former director of border control at
the UK border agency, who denied extending or altering home
secretary Theresa May's border checks trial. May said she
authorised the relaxation of some checks under "limited
circumstances" at peak times - but claims Clark
allowed officials to go further, without ministerial approval.
Clark says Mrs May's statements are
"wrong". (Mirror p10, Sun p2, Express p4, Mail p8, Times p3, Indie p1-2, Guardian p10-11, Telegraph p4, FT p2)
Scrap the fuel duty increase
– After 110,000 people signed a government epetition to debate the
proposed rise in fuel duty Tory MPs yesterday pumped more pressure
on Cameron by calling on his government to scrap the planned 3p
rise in January and 5p rise next August (Mirror p6-7, Sun p12-13, Express p1, Mail p6, Indie p6, Guardian p16, Telegraph p2, FT p2).
Letwin broke the law – Even
though cabinet office minister Oliver Letwin broke the law by
dumping sensitive official documents in a park bin no action is to
be taken, unless he dumps some more (Mail p36, Times p21, Indie p26, Telegraph p4, Morning Star p5).
News International lawyer apologises
for hacking – Rhodri Davies QC, acting on behalf of News
International, said phone hacking was wrong, shameful and should
never have happened (Mirror
p21, Sun p14, Express p5, Mail p12, Times p19, Guardian p9, Telegraph p11, FT p2).
Southern Cross to close at
Christmas – The Mail (p67) and Times (p49) report the
collapsed housing provider is expected to end operations by the end
of the year as its remaining care homes are sold off.
Charity strike off - Unite
members at homeless charity Centrepoint - whose patron is Prince
William - have settled their dispute and called off planned strike
action after Acas helped broker a deal (Unite
release).
MoD flogs Harriers – The
Guardian (p7) reports the
UK’s fleet of Harrier jump jets has been saved after the US
military decided to buy all 74 planes for the US marines.
BAE jobs hope – Hundreds of
BAE Systems jobs could be saved by a new Eurofighter deal after
interest from India in the Typhoon fighter (Mirror p23).
easyJet to allocate seats –
Is the budget airline moving upmarket? After reporting a 31.5 per
cent rise in profits to £248 million the airline announced that is
planning to allow passengers to choose their seats, for a fee
naturally (Mirror p44,
Sun p47, Express p65, Mail p65, Times p42, Guardian p30, Telegraph b5, FT p18).
Schools out for Stagecoach –
The FT (p18) reports that the bus
company has sold its US Yellow bus operations as it looks to focus
on its higher margin intercity coach business,
Don’t smoke in your car –
Doctors call for a ban on smoking in all cars after evidence shows
that the toxins in the air for passengers in enclosed cars were
worse than those found in smoky bars (Mirror p15, Express p22, Guardian p9, Telegraph p19).
Cameron’s accent attacked -
And finally with the week he is having David Cameron may like to
hide in a smoky bar after his latest diplomatic gaffe. The Telegraph (p23) reports that not
content with annoying the Germans and flustering the French he has
angered Australians after attempting an imitation of Australian
prime minister Julie Gillard’s accent while telling a joke about
the moves to scrap the rule barring women inheriting the British
throne. The accent has witnessed a wave of indignation in Australia
with the
news.com.au website saying his accent was so bad
“it could cause a diplomatic row”,
Cameron’s made a lot of enemies in just 18 months…
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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